NASA is Looking For Life on Exoplanets in 2069 (Nice)

Anthony Freeman is from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, and he just presented a very interesting mission concept at the 2017 American Geophysical Union conference.

Namely, launching a spacecraft to the relatively nearby three-star Alpha Centauri system to search an exoplanet for signs of life. But not until 2069.

"It's very nebulous," Freeman said.

As reported by New Scientist, we'd be looking at a 44-year-long trip to reach the exoplanet - and that's only if we can work out how to travel at a tenth of the speed of light.

But NASA has a plan. And it involves lasers. Lasers that power tiny probes, which in theory can reach a quarter of the speed of light. Nuclear reactions and collisions between antimatter and matter are also on the drawing board.

So yes, while NASA hasn't quite figured out how, having a date is nice, right?

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